During the day-to-day operation of heat treat departments, many habits are formed and procedures followed that sometimes are done simply because that’s the way they’ve always 
been done. One of the great benefits of having a community of heat treaters is to challenge those habits and look at new ways of doing things. Heat Treat Today‘s 101 Heat Treat Tips, tips and tricks that come from some of the industry’s foremost experts, were initially published in the FNA 2018 Special Print Edition, as a way to make the benefits of that community available to as many people as possible. This special edition is available in a digital format here.
Today, we offer one of the tips published under the Alloy Fabrications category.
Alloy Fabrications
Heat Treat Tip #1
Allow for Thermal Expansion
When bringing furnaces to operating temperature, always be aware of thermal expansion of your alloy components. Muffles, retorts, radiant tubes all expand with heat input. These components must be free to expand within the furnace or early failure may result.
Heat Treat Tip #40
Consider Corrugated Inner Covers
Inner covers are a component of the batch annealing process in the steel industry. If your inner covers are vertically corrugated, consider horizontally corrugated inner covers instead. Horizontally corrugated inner covers are repairable and, for this reason, offer longer overall life and better value.
Heat Treat Tip #52
Batch Rotary Retorts — Stay Put and Stay Clean
Batch rotary retorts are positioned on furnace rollers at the front of the furnace. In time, these retorts expand until they no longer track on the rollers. Extend the life of your batch rotary retorts by using adjustable roller brackets (available from Alloy Engineering). And to keep the outlet tubes clean, use Alloy Engineering pig-tails and augers to self-clean batch rotary retort outlet tubes.
These tips were submitted by Alloy Engineering.
